Beautiful Soul
by The Stag Patronus
Summary: James Potter is convinced his plan will work this time. With a bit of luck, Moony's help, a Muggle pop song, and a Pensieve, he'll finally get the lovely Ms. Lily Evans to go out with him. He just prays that he can actually sing in tune... ON HOLD
1. Favors for a Friend

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the the characters.**

**A/N: hey there! so here's my newest L/J fanfic. and this is my first one that's not a one-shot. it's all about James and his ways on trying to woo Lily. hahahaha. the song "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney will be playing a part in the next couple of chapters, look out for it. i'll have this story done in a few days maybe. but for, here's chapter 1! hope you enjoy it! :D i_ love_ reviews by the way :P**

* * *

**Beautiful Soul**

There weren't a lot of things James Potter asked for. Well, he doesn't actually ask at all. He's just used to getting everything he wanted in just a snap of the fingers. So you can only imagine what he feels when he does actually have to ask for something. But this was different, this was important. He didn't give a damn about his pride or dignity anymore. He'll beg and grovel on his knees if he must!

He didn't even care if he had to do this right in the middle of the Gryffindor common room.

And that's why, on one fine autumn night, the whole Gryffindor House (well, those in the common room at the moment at least) witnessed their Head Boy going down on his knees and begging in front of one very startled Remus Lupin.

"James! Please get up! This is embarrassing!" Remus cried in exasperation, trying to pull his hands from James's grip and stand James upright at the same time.

"_Please_, Remus!" James begged. "Just this once! I won't ask for another favor again, ever!" He _needed_ Remus for this.

"Aww, go on, Moony. Look at him! And you know how hard it is for him to ask for something," Sirius said, trying to contain his laughter. He was sitting in an armchair by the fire, watching the antics of his best friend with amusement. He occasionally flipped his long silky, shiny black hair for the benefit of those girls by the corner who were constantly throwing lustful glances at him. They giggled and squealed with delight every time he did this.

"Why don't you ask Sirius instead?" Remus cried in desperation.

At this, James dropped all the begging and rolled his eyes. "Are you serious, Remus? You know you can't count on that dog on those kinds of stuff!" James huffed.

The laughter was wiped off from Sirius's face in an instant. "Excuse me?" he said, offended.

"You know what I mean, Pads," James said, waving a hand at him. "This is more of Moony's area of expertise!"

"Stealing is not my area of expertise!"

"It's not stealing! It's just… well… borrowing!"

Remus raised an eyebrow at him.

"We'll return it as soon as we're done! Besides, we're Marauders! A little mischief's not new to us!" Remus looked sternly at him. "Fine! Sirius will do the steal- er, borrowing!" James said.

"So now you count on me for something!"

"Well we need to make use of you sometimes, Pads. Besides, _this_ one's _your_ area of expertise!" James smile ruefully at him. Sirius grinned at this.

"I take that as a compliment!"

James turned back to Remus. "See, Remus! Now all you have to do is the spell work! Please, please, please! I'm asking you this as my friend! This could be the very plan that will work!"

Remus looked down at James. He knew it did mean a lot for James to ask for this, and in this manner too. "Alright, fine…" he sighed.

_"Really?_" James said, his eyes hopeful and wide. Remus nodded. "You're the best-est best best friend in world, Moony!"

"Hey, watta about me?" Sirius said, pouting.

"Never mind you, Pads," James waved him off again.

"Just because he's helping you get Evans... which may I add is something I've also been doing for the last 6 years," Sirius retorted, pretending to be angry.

James just ignored him. Then he realized that with Moony's help, his brilliant might work! "YES! Thank you! Thank you, Moony!" James jumped up and hugged him tightly.

"James, I can't breathe!" Remus gasped, wriggling to get free. James just laughed, his eyes sparkling and his arms still wrapped tightly around his werewolf friend.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted James's mini celebration. "Well, well, well! What do we have here? The great James Potter has finally come out of the closet!"

The three Marauders turned around to find one very amused looking Lily Evans watching them.

"So Potter, you've gone for your friend huh? Thanks a lot Remus. You have saved me from the constant asking outs of this fool." Lily laughed.

"Ouch, don't need to be so harsh there, Lilykins," James said, looking a bit hurt.

"Don't call me that, Potter. And you have been acting like an idiot you know." She made to turn and go up her dorm, but paused. "And thank God I never said yes to you. I don't think I could live with the shame if I went out with bloke who fancies other guys," she added to James, smirking.

And with that Lily left the Marauders.

James spluttered. "I-I'm not gay! Oi, Lily, come back here and take that back!" She just continued on her way up the stairs. "Evans! Take that back! I'm NOT gay!"

"Whatever makes you sleep at night Potter," Lily said, before going her dormitory and shutting the door behind her.

"Can you believe that?" James demanded at his friends.

Sirius rolled his eyes and stood up, finally going over to those girls that have been eyeing him. Remus could only sigh. James's plans always get them in trouble, especially the ones concerning trying to woo Lily Evans. If only they've gotten some progress, then maybe those troubles would have been worth it. But alas, until now, no such luck. Maybe this time they'll finally get Lily to go out with James.

He looked back up at the door Lily just went into. "Or maybe not," he muttered to himself.


	2. The True Marauder in Remus

**A/N: thanks for the reviews on the first chapter everyone! :D ok, so here's the second chapter. It's a bit longer than I'd expected it to be.. I'm not really sure what I feel about it right now. So tell me what you think of it? a few more chapters will be following this by the way :) anyway, still hope you enjoy it. please review! :D**

**

* * *

**

_Ok, remember you're doing this for James. He's one of your best friends. Remember all the things he's done for you. You can do this. This is simple. You're a Marauder, after all._

Remus had been repeating this in his head and had to wince at the last line. He may be a Marauder, but he's certainly not the best one at this sort of things…

It was way past curfew, and he was standing by the stone gargoyle that led to the Headmaster's study. He was under James's Invisibility Cloak, trying to calm himself, as he was just about to attempt to sneak out Professor Dumbledore's pensieve.

If he manages to break in there of course. _I wonder if that's even possible_, he thought. Well yeah, he knew the password. James was Head Boy after all, and it was necessary that Remus got into the office for his plan to work, so he made sure he _hammered _the password into Remus's head.

But still… if Dumbledore catches him. The man trusted him to be a prefect after all, hoping that Remus might be able to control his friends a bit. Remus was sorry to say that he failed dismally. He didn't want to disappoint him. _Again_. He already felt a lot guilty by causing his friends to sneak out with him every full moon.

Gathering all his Gryffindor courage together, he muttered 'Ice Mice' to the gargoyle and silently went up the stairs. He paused by the door, hand held out for the handle.

This was supposed to be Sirius's job! He couldn't help but curse him. James was right, this was _his_ area of expertise! All he was suppose to be doing was planning and doing the actual spell, not sneaking into the Headmaster's office and steal- no, borrowing (he _doesn't_ steal!)- most likely one of Dumbledore's most prized possession. But no, Sirius just had to land himself in detention again!

He opened the door a bit and peeked in. The room seemed empty. He opened it wider and snuck in, still invisible.

There was a sudden rustle of feathers in the corner. Fawkes had sense someone was there, his eyes fixed on the spot where Remus was, even though he couldn't see him.

"Ssh, Fawkes, it's just me," Remus breathed, lifting the cloak to show his head for a second, then immediately dropping it back once more. He wondered if the bird knew he was up to no good.

He walked over to the cabinet where he knew the pensieve was kept. It was a bit bigger than he'd expected. He wouldn't be able to hold it properly while wearing the cloak.

"Great, just great," he muttered bitterly, before taking off the cloak. He had his hands on it already, when suddenly-

"Well, well, well, it seems that the true Marauder in you is finally showing you, Remus,"

Remus spun around, very pale. He was face to face with the Headmaster! However, Dumbledore was smiling at him. Maybe he wasn't in that much trouble?

"I- I didn't see you, sir," Remus said. **(A/N: now why does that sound familiar? :P)**

"Funny how near-sighted being invisible can make us," Dumbledore said **(A/N: again, sounds familiar? :P)**. "I see Mr. Potter has lent you his wonderful cloak. As I've said, the Marauder in you is finally showing. I'm sure Mr. Potter and Mr. Black will be very pleased."

Remus was unsure of what to say. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling; a smile playing on the brilliant wizard's aged face.

"I-I'm sorry, sir," Remus said. "I know what it looks like-"

"But it's actually not it?" Dumbledore continued, laughing. "Ah, one of my most loved cliché lines! I particularly remember using it when I was a young boy. It was the summer just after my first year here at Hogwarts. My brother had made me mad by messing up one of my spell books. I knew I wasn't allowed to use magic outside school, but that didn't stop me from getting my wand out and sticking his beloved pet goat up the ceiling. I was just keeping it and thinking of deniable plausibility when my mother came in and caught me red-handed. I've never seen her so mad. My father, however, had thought of it amusing and asked what particular spell I used. So you can see why my mother wasn't pleased with him much either." He chuckled softly.

Remus had to grin at this. Well, at least Dumbledore wasn't mad at him. Thank Merlin for that. But still, he felt he had a lot of explaining to do. He became solemn once more. "Let me rephrase what I was about to say before: I know what it looks like… and yes, I'm sorry to say that it's actually what it looks like," he started. Dumbledore chuckled once more at those words.

"I apologize, sir. But I do have a good reason for doing so. I know I probably should have just asked permission to borrow it…" he trailed off, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"I understand, Mr. Lupin. Do not worry. And… you may borrow it."

Remus's eyes widened. Did he just hear him right? Apparently he did, because Dumbledore was taking out the pensieve from the cabinet and handing it to him!

"Just bring it back here whenever you're finished with it," Dumbledore smiled, stuffing the cloak into Remus's pocket and opening the door for him. "And good luck."

Remus stood where he was in disbelief, carrying the heavy pensieve in his arms. He was about to think that Dumbledore really was going crazy when he suddenly said, "_Do_ try get this plan to work this time. I'm sure everyone at the school has had their eardrums damaged enough by the scenes caused by Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. Lily sure can shout." Remus's eyes widened to about the size of sauces at this point, and his jaw had even dropped at Dumbledore's unexpected words. He knew why he was taking the pensieve in the first place! Dumbledore continued, "Do us all a favor, won't you Remus, and do everything you can to get them together? For the sake of what's left of everyone's hearing, and more importantly of course, so that those two will finally be happy?"

The shocked boy recovered and pulled himself together. "Of course, sir. Thanks a lot."

And Remus went off, heading back to the common room. James will be really pleased.

And speaking of pleasing things, he couldn't believe his luck! He had gotten the pensieve. He was caught and yet he wasn't in trouble. He didn't even get detention! Wait 'til Sirius and James get a load of that! They'd always been saying he hasn't been acting much of a proper Marauder because he was avoiding trouble instead of looking for it. Their faces when he tells them this will be really something to see. He laughed to himself, adjusting the weight of the pensieve in his arms.

* * *

**A/N: so this is mainly about Remus's participation in James's brilliant plan. And yeah, so this time it's Remus doing the actual mischief. (granted, James did beg him for this :P) but still I thought it makes a nice change. Don't you?... :D**


	3. Mission JPplusLE: Phase One!

**A/N: Alright, I know I have a lot of explaining to do on why this update took a long, long, **_**long**_** time. I'm really sorry about that. I've been busy as hell for the last few weeks, not to mention that I've been really suffering from serious writer's block. I had no idea what to put here! I'm sorry to those that have been waiting for this. Oh, and really, really thank you for the past reviews, story alerts and favorites for this.. But anyway, I've managed to put this together now. Don't think it's as good as the previous ones though… Please review!**

**Btw, Peter's here now in this chapter, too. Sad, I know… -sigh-**

**Oh, and I'll be able to update more often now. I am now officially on summer vacation! :D**

* * *

Having finally finished his detention with dear old Minnie, Sirius had returned to the common room knowing that he was soon about to be dog turned _dog chow_ by one very, very angry Remus Lupin. Remus had to do his part in the plan instead, the part which Remus didn't like most and was supposed to be his area of expertise. But it wasn't his fault he got into detention! In fact, he thought he was ought to be thanked! I mean, isn't that the usual way good kids are always portrayed? Leaving a nice shiny red apple on the desk for the teacher? How could he get detention for something like that?... Well, alright, what he really left was a bowl of cat food instead… But details, details! He thought it was more appropriate anyhow. Apparently, Professor McGonagall didn't, though.

Anyway, he had barely made it through the portrait hole to face his doom, aka Remus Lupin, when he saw James dashing towards him, closely followed by a huffing-puffing Peter. He grabbed Sirius by the arm and yanked him back out again, dragging him while continuing to run at full-speed.

"James! What the heck?" Sirius cried, trying to pull free of his best mate's grip and avoid tripping over his feet at the same time.

"Change of plans, Pads. We're meeting Remus in the Room of Requirement instead. He's already there, we saw him in the map. Now, hurry up! I wanna go see if he's got it."

They burst into the Room of Requirement, all quite out of breath.

"Moony! Have you got it? _Please_ tell me you've got it!" James cried as they stumbled in.

Remus smiled. The room had changed to look something like their own Gryffindor common room, and he was sitting in a cozy armchair. On the table in front of him was the-

"The Pensieve!" Peter squeaked.

James grinned hugely when his eyes fell on it. "You did get it! I knew you had it in you, Remus!"

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not, James," Remus smiled wryly.

Sirius's eyes were as big and round as Galleons. "You actually got it," he murmured in shock and disbelief. Then he suddenly looked up at Remus, a smirk on his face. "Alright, out with it, Moony. How many detentions did this get you?"

"None," Remus said simply, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back onto the armchair.

"No way! You weren't caught?" The look of shock and disbelief was back on Sirius's face.

"Well… Yeah, I did get caught… But Dumbledore let me off…"

James, Sirius and Peter looked at each other.

"So Dumbledore caught you… He didn't give you any detention … And I don't think I noticed a large deduction from our House points when we passed the giant hourglasses… _and he still let you have it_?" James said, raising an eyebrow.

Remus nodded.

Sirius broke into fake sobs and tears. "Oh my little ickle Remykkins! I am _soooo_ proud of you! The true mischief maker in you is showing itself at last! We must celebrate this happy, happy day!" he cried, making his voice full of emotion.

James and Peter howled with laughter. Remus could only roll his eyes and say, "That's really almost the same with what Dumbledore just said. Huh, true Marauder indeed, or something like that… and once again, I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

"I just can't believe he let you have it," Peter said, looking at the Pensieve with awe.

"Yeah, well I can," Remus laughed to himself.

The others looked at him in confusion.

"Dumbledore knows. He knows why we're taking this."

James frowned at this. "How can he know? I just came up with this awesome plan on my own! And I haven't told anyone else except you guys."

"I guess he's not exactly sure what part this plays in your plan, James… but I'm pretty sure he knows it has something to do with getting Lily," Remus said, shrugging.

"But still, how would he know that?" Peter said, wearing his most common facial expression, the one betraying that he was confused/had no idea what's going on. **(A/N: yep, I'm not a big fan of Peter Pettigrew. Can you blame me though? :/)**

Sirius snickered. "Honestly, Wormy, it's not so hard to deduce that. I mean, that's what James has been doing for the past six years, right? Trying to get the gorgeous Ms. Lily Evans. It gets really predictable by now."

James glared at him.

Sirius just smirked at him, as if challenging James to contradict him. But they had other matters to work on, and James couldn't really think of anything to contradict him with anyway, so he just said , "Never mind!... Let's just… get on with this stuff."

The other three immediately went to serious mode. The Marauders did take their plans to the heart, whether they just be silly old pranks or important missions, such as this one. And might we add that this was a mission they've been working on for _ages. "_Mission JP+LE" was the toughest one they've faced yet.

They all gathered around the table with Pensieve, looking at the swirling liquid inside it.

"Sure you're up to this, Remus?" Sirius breathed. Tension was starting to arise. This plan really involved a bit of complex magic.

"I'm pretty much sure I can," Remus said, pulling out his wand. As he did so, James also pulled out his wand and several tiny vials.

"Ready those memories, James," Remus instructed. James nodded, and began extracting his memories and putting them in the vials.

After he had collected all that he needed, Remus then tapped the Pensieve with his wand and began murmuring the most complex incantations the others have ever heard. The liquid in the Pensieve glowed bright and silvery spiral smokes came out from it.

Remus then swished his wand over the vials and the silvery threads of memories all came out, arranging themselves in a certain, unknown order, before going into the Pensieve one by one. After they've all gone in, the Pensieve glowed more brightly once more before returning to its original state.

They all stared at it for a minute. Then Remus broke the silence. "Phase one of James's awesome plan for Mission JP+LE is now officially done," he said, smiling.

The others broke into wide grins.

"Good work, Moony!" Sirius cheered.

"Sure you got it right?" Peter asked worriedly.

Remus nodded. "Yep. They'll come in order as planned when put this into action. They'll follow the timing too… But anyway, this is nothing… James's part is harder…"

At this they all turned to James, smirking, their eyes full of mirth.

Remus then asked his bespectacled, love-struck friend. "So James, have you chosen a song yet?"


End file.
